Rather than using point-to-point messaging, BPAC uses a web page hosted within the PMS that can access data about the patient, with the BPAC server collecting the eReferrals for submission.

Intrahealth co-founder and director of operations Andrew Hall said a copy of the referral document was also pushed to Profile via the same web page.

“A document detailing the referral is automatically saved in the patient’s Correspondence with all the correct parameters set,” Dr Hall said. “This is work the GP previously had to do manually.”

BPAC general manager Chris Churcher said BPAC had worked closely with Intrahealth on the integration, but was particularly appreciative of Lumsden GP and long-time user of Profile for Mac, Mathew Stokes.

Mr Churcher said the work Dr Stokes had undertaken as part of the end-user testing program was an integral part of the project.

“The close partnership between the IT developers at BPAC and Intrahealth and Dr Stokes has ensured that the BPAC eReferrals application is not only technically sound, but also works well for busy general practice clinicians using Profile for Mac,” Mr Churcher said.

The joint development team is now working on connecting further BPAC applications to the Profile for Mac platform, starting with the ACC18 form.

Dr Hall said the data and documents for the eACC18 solution would be exchanged in the same way as eReferrals.

“The submission is electronic in real-time via BPAC,” he said. “When complete, an ACC18 record and related documents are automatically created in Profile Mac.”